1. Related Applications
There are no applications related hereto heretofore filed in this or any foreign country.
2. Field of Invention
My invention relates generally to vehicular-type hay bale accumulators and stackers and more particularly to such a device that picks up, accumulates in ordered array and stacks large one-ton hay bales.
3. Background and Description of Prior Art
In modern day agriculture the handling of hay has become increasingly mechanized and a substantial efficiency in such endeavors is a requirement for economic survival. Responsively, the forms in which processed hay has come to exist have progressed through an original amorphous fungible mass to various amassed coherent configurations that may be more readily dealt with by modern machinery. One group of such amassed configurations has evolved in the form of bales of various sorts. With the increased sophistication of hay handling, these bales have tended to increase substantially in size from an early mass of about sixty to eighty pounds to a present day mass of approximately two thousand pounds. Such bales have been created in many and various configurations and forms, but the most popular is that of an elongate rectilinear solid having dimensions of about 4.times.4.times.8 feet which, when formed with ordinary compression from average hay materials, will weigh approximately in the range of two thousand pounds. Such bales are commonly formed with automatic machinery that deposits them after formation in random fashion on the earth of a field in which the hay grew. My invention provides a vehicular-type device to move about a field to pick up such bales, array them in an ordered matrix, and deposit such accumulated matrix of bales at a distant point for storage or further operation.
Such devices are commonly known as bale accumulators and various progenitors have heretofore become known especially as created for use with smaller bales of the 80 pound variety. Such known accumulators have generally picked up bales from the ground by moving the lower portion of an angulated conveyor against the lower portion of a bale resting on the earth with sufficient force to cause the bale to rise slightly and be engaged with the conveyor for lifting onto the accumulator structure. This method of picking up a hay bale is not particularly applicable to the larger bales of one ton size as it is difficult to create enough impact type force to raise the larger bale in the same fashion as a smaller bale and if such force be created, it in general will do substantial damage to the accumulator, the bale or both.
My invention resolves this problem by providing a grasping and lifting structure that extends forwardly of an accumulator vehicle to pick up a bale in a position visually observable by an operator forwardly of the accumulator. The pick up structure provides a back plate with spaced opposed forwardly extending arms that are hydraulically movable toward each other and against the bale to squeezably engage it and then move it upwardly and rearwardly and deposit it on a stacking bed rearwardly of an operator's cab. The particular motions involved from initial bale engagement to deposition may be automated by position-sensitive control valves.
My invention also picks up and deposits bales without damage to the bales themselves. In general in their formation process, rectilinear are compacted in a direction parallel to their longer axis and by reason of this, the ties that hold the bales together must necessarily extend parallel to that longer axis to be effective. When such bales are picked up by a conveyor-type device, the conveyor normally contacts a smaller end as opposed to a larger side of a bale, and in so doing may contact the bale ties to oftentimes causes disruptive forces that break bale ties which tends to allow a bale to change its configuration or completely fall apart. Impact forces themselves tend to do this when a ramp-like part of a conveyor contacts a bale and the process is further enhanced when the bale enters the conveyor structure, as the conveyor generally must provide some engaging contact such as a tooth or cog structure.
Known pick up devices for large bales have commonly been associated with cylindrical-type bales which have heretofore been popular. These cylindrical bales have an axial void, or at least an axially symmetrical structure, that allows insertion of tines along the medial axis of such a bale without disruption of the bale or breaking of circular ties about its periphery. Such pick-up devices, however, are generally not effective for use with rectilinear bales which do not provide any medial permeable area where tines may be inserted and if tines are inserted in rectilinear bales, they in general will be disruptive of the bale structure and the ties holding the bale together.
Other mechanisms for moving large bales about a farming operation have become known, but they in general are distinguished from the bale moving mechanism of my accumulator in that they do not accomplish the same bale motion or positioning. Bale moving devices have commonly been associated with tractors or similar vehicles to translocate individual bales. These devices generally have provided means of picking up a bale and raising it a short distance above a supporting surface to allow it to be moved, but in general have maintained the bale forwardly and at or below the level of a vehicle operator where it may be observed at all times. My invention, however, must pick up a bale forwardly of the operator, raise it upwardly and rearwardly and then deposit it on an accumulator bed rearwardly of an operator. The bale deposition must also orient the bale in a particular spacial orientation relative to the accumulation bed and other bales being stacked on that bed. This motion requires not only the picking up of a bale, but also its positional orientation and particular course of transit to distinguish my pick up mechanism from the ordinary translocation devices used with larger hay bales for transportation or positioning.
The disposition of bales and their positioning on the accumulator bed of my invention is more critical and must be more accurate then required for small bale accumulators. If positioning of a bale in a small accumulator is not correct or if the bale tips or falls, its positioning may quite readily be manually corrected by a workman. This, however, is not the case with large bales approximating a weight of two thousand pounds, as such bales may not generally be manually manipulated by one or even several workmen without aid of additional apparatus or mechanism which generally is not available in the field where such happenings occur. My invention solves this problem by accumulating and stacking bales in the forward portion of an elongate, rearwardly extending stacking bed so that there is always a forward guide and an end gate or a column of bales rearwardly of the stacking position to assure the correct positioning of a bale being placed on the stacking bed. This arraying of elements in the stacking procedure creates a bin-like void where a new bale is placed so that it is very nearly impossible to misplace the bale or for it to turn or tip in any improper fashion.
My invention resides not in any one these features, but rather in the synergistic combination of all of its structures that give rise to the functions necessarily flowing therefrom as hereinafter more fully specified and claimed.